Langer's: 99 Essential Restaurants 2013

"The hot pastrami sandwich served at Langer's Delicatessen in downtown Los Angeles is the finest hot pastrami sandwich in the world," Nora Ephron wrote in The New Yorker in 2002. Them's fighting words, and printed as they were in the away team's pages? Time to call up the troops — no matter that Ephron's statement was as true then as it is now. Langer's, of course, is more than just a house of pastrami. The neighborhood demographics may have changed since the deli's founding in 1947, but it still feels like a throwback: There's that long, front counter and those worn booths, and you can still order things like kishka and gravy here. Likely, though, you'll order your pastrami on rye and then, and only then, glance at the menu and wonder about that kishka. Maybe next time. 704 S. Alvarado St., Westlake; (213) 483-8050, langersdeli.com. Mon.-Sat., 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Entrees $10-$20. Beer and wine.